The present invention relates to a disk device which loads two types (large and small) of disk onto a turntable of a playing unit (floating deck) and which expels (ejects) the disk from the turntable.
FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a disk device mounted in a vehicle. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a disk device, 2 is a chassis (frame) which is disposed in a vehicle, 3 is a playing unit which rotates a turntable and reads information recorded on the disk D which is mounted on the turntable. 4 is a conveying unit which inserts the disk D from the disk insertion aperture formed in the chassis into the chassis, which conveys the disk to the turntable of the playing unit 3, which conveys a disk from the top of the turntable to the disk insertion aperture and which ejects the disk outside the chassis 2. 5 is a flexible member such as an oil clamper which prevents the transmission of vibrations from the vehicle to the playing unit which a disk D is being played and which is disposed between the chassis 2 and the playing unit 3.
In the playing unit 3, 11 is a playing unit base which stores a motor or the like for the purpose of driving the motor or pickup which rotates the turntable. 11a is a rotation shaft of a pressuring arm (arm clamper) and which is provided on the playing unit base 11. 12 is a turntable which rotates the mounted disk D and which is provided on the playing unit base 11. 13 is a pressuring arm which rotates about the rotational shaft 11a, provided on the playing unit base, in the direction a-b.
14 is a disk clamp which grips the disk D with the turntable 12 by rotating the pressuring arm 13 towards the turntable 12 and which is mounted on the pressuring arm 13. 15 is a pickup which reads information recorded on the disk D and which is provided on the playing unit base 11.
In the conveying unit 4, 21 is a disk guiding section which is secured onto the upper plate of the chassis 2. 22 is a conveying roller which grips a disk D, which is inserted into the chassis 2 from the disk insertion aperture, with the disk guiding section 21, which conveys a disk D to the playing unit 3 by rotating in a positive direction while a disk D is gripped, which grips a disk D which has been conveyed to the playing unit 3 with the disk guiding section 21, and which conveys a disk D to the disk insertion aperture by rotating in the opposite direction while a disk D is gripped and which ejects a disk D outside the chassis.
In FIG. 1, the pressuring arm 13 which is provided on the playing unit 3 and the conveying roller 22 which is provided on the conveying unit 4 are driven by sliding displacement in the direction of disk ejection and direction of disk insertion. The fixation and release of the playing unit 3 are performed by a cam plate. These operations are not shown in the figures and their explanation will be omitted below.
The operation of the invention will now be explained.
When a disk D is inserted into the chassis 2 from the disk insertion mouth, the disk D is gripped by the disk guiding section 21. The disk is conveyed to the playing unit 3 by the rotations of the conveying roller 22. A disk D which has been conveyed to the playing unit 3 is gripped by the turntable 12 and the disk clamp 14 due to the pressuring arm is rotating towards the turntable 12 and is loaded onto the turntable 12. At this time, the conveying roller 22 displaces to a position away from the disk D due to a cam plate (not shown). As a result, the fixation of the playing unit base 11 (which had been fixed) is released, the playing unit base 11 is supported by the flexible member 5 and the information recorded on the disk D is read. That is to say, the disk D is placed into a playable state.
The playing of the disk D, which is mounted in a stationary position on the turntable 12, is initiated by the turntable 12 rotating. The information recorded on the disk D is read by the pickup 15. At this time, the vibrations of the vehicle are absorbed by the flexible member 5 and such vibrations are prevented from being transmitted to the playing unit 3.
When the playing of the disk D is finished, the ejection of the disk D is initiated when the disk D is gripped by the turntable 12 and the disk clamp 14 and the disk D is in a stationary position on the turntable 12. The pressuring arm 13 rotates in a direction away from the turntable 12 and the conveying roller 22 which had been in a position removed from the disk D displaces back to a position adjacent to the disk D. The disk D is then gripped by the disk guiding section 21 and the conveying roller 22. The disk D is conveyed to the disk insertion aperture and ejected outside the chassis by the rotations of the conveying roller 22. At this time, the playing unit base 11 is fixed by a cam plate (not shown).
The structure and operation of the disk device for use in a vehicle was outlined above. However each component will now be explained in detail below.
FIG. 2 is a plan view showing the horizontal operation of the mechanism of loading the disk D onto a turntable (not shown in FIG. 2) and ejecting the disk from the turntable in a conventional disk device. FIG. 3 is a lateral view of the right side of FIG. 2. In FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, 31 is a lever open member which is supported in the chassis 2 by a rotation shaft 32. 33 is a rocker arm which engages the long hole 33a with the pin 13e on the pressuring arm 13. An impelling force is provided by the springs 34 which are provided on both components.
35, 36 are a pair of lever stoppers one end of which is stacked and is pivotally supported by the shaft 37 which is provided on the pressuring arm 13. 38 is a lever rod. 39 is a slider rack (lever trigger).
Circular arc shaped long holes 13a, 13b, 13c, 13d are formed on the pressuring arm 13 respectively on the left and right about the axis 37. Pins 35a, 35b provided on the lever stopper 35 engage with long holes 13a, 13b, and pins 36a, 36b provided on the lever stopper 36 engage with long holes 13c, 13d. A lever rod 38 above is mounted on the pin 36a and the pin 36b engages with an indentation 38a. 40 is a spring which is mounted between the lever stoppers 35, 36 so that they are compressed towards each other. 41 is a spring which compresses one end of the lever rod 38 so that the lever rod is normally pushed in an abutting direction to the slide rack 39. 14 is a disk clamp which is mounted on the pressuring arm 13 so that it is positioned in the center of the chassis 2.
The operation of the invention will now be explained.
FIG. 4 shows a large diameter (12 cm) as loaded in the disk device. FIG. 5 shows the disk device immediately after the switching from the horizontal operation to the vertical operation due to the insertion of a disk D.
Firstly as shown in FIG. 2, when a disk D is inserted, the disk D is conveyed into the chassis 2 by a conveying roller (not shown). A pin 31a is pushed by the peripheral edge of the disk D during the conveying process, the lever open member 31 is rotated in a clockwise direction about the rotation shaft 32, and the rocker arm 33 is displaced in the direction of the arrow a by the projection 31b on the tip of the rocker arm 33.
Due to this displacement, since the engagement of the pin 35b with the engagement section 33b is released, the pins 35a, 35b displace along the long holes 13a, 13b and the pins 36a, 36b displace along the long holes 13c, 13d. This is because the pins 35a, 3a, 36b are pushed by the disk D due to the insertion of the disk D, as shown in FIG. 4 and FIG. 5. Thus the lever stopper 35, 36 rotates transversely about the axis 37.
When the disk D progresses further into the device, passes the position shown in FIG. 6 and is inserted into the position as shown in FIG. 7, the lever open member is rotated to an initial position by the spring force of the return spring 42 as a result of the widest section of the disk D being displaced. Furthermore the slider rack 39 is pushed in the direction of the arrow b by the lever rod 38, which is maximally rotated, through the pin 38b by the inserted disk D. Thus the switching operation from horizontal to vertical operations is completed.
As a result of the above switching, the slider rack 39 is pushed and displaced and a gear on the drive power source side engages with the rack of the slider rack 39. The drive power source further displaces the slider rack 39 in the direction of the arrow b. The slider lock is displaced together with this displacement and the pressuring arm 13 is displaced in the direction in which the disk D is locked. The lock of the playing unit 3 is released, the retraction of the conveying roller 22 from the disk D is performed in system and the loading operation of the disk is complete.
Furthermore when a disk D is ejected, the slider rack 39 is displaced in the direction c of the arrow by the reverse rotation of the drive power source. The switching operation from vertical operations to horizontal operations is performed by the lock of the disk D being released, the lock of the playing unit 3 being released, the clamp of the pressuring arm being released, and the slider rack 39 being returned to an initial position
In horizontal operations, since the conveying roller 22 rotates in a reverse direction, the disk displaces to the position shown in FIG. 5 by passing through the position in FIG. 6 from the position shown in FIG. 7. The peripheral edge of the disk pushes the pin 31a and rotates the lever open member 31 in a clockwise direction and displaces the rocker arm 33 in the direction a of the arrow by the projection 31b on the tip of the rocker arm 33. Since the engagement of the pin 35b with the engagement section 33b is released as a result of the displacement, the lever stoppers 35, 36 are rotated in an approaching direction due to the compression of the spring 40. Thus the disk D is ejected and the device returns to an initial state as shown in FIG. 2.
FIG. 8 and FIG. 9 show the loaded position of a small diameter (8 cm) disk D. The small diameter disk D does not operate at all on the lever open member 31. As a result, the rocker arm 33 and the lever stoppers 35, 36 do not operate. The edge of the inserted disk D directly operates on the pin 38b of the lever rod 38 as shown in FIG. 8 and the lever rod 38 is rotated in a clockwise direction about the pin 36a through the pin 36b. As shown in FIG. 9, the slider rack 39 is pushed in the direction of the arrow b by the lever rod 38 and the switching operation from horizontal to vertical operations is completed. Thereafter the vertical operation is performed as above and the disk loading is complete. Furthermore when the vertical and horizontal operations are performed in the reverse manner, a disk ejection operation is completed.
Since the conventional device is constructed as above, both types of disk, large (12 cm) and small (8 cm) are switched by the same member (lever rod). Thus the relationship of the pin 36a (support point), the point of abutment between with the slider rack 39 of the lever rod 38 (operation point) and the pin 38b (force point) becomes the same and so the switching operation must be operated with the same timing. Thus there is no freedom in setting components. As a result, it is difficult to increase the movement accuracy of the disk.
The present invention is proposed to solve the above problems and has the object of providing respective switching timings for large and small disks as well as improving the switching accuracy from a horizontal operation to a vertical operation.
Furthermore it is an object of the present invention to enable returning the disk stopper accurately to an initial position and thus reduce load when the disk is loaded.
The device of the present invention comprises a disk device which loads a disk onto a turntable by a conveying roller and which ejects the disk from the turntable. The device comprises a lever open member which rotates due to abutting with a large diameter disk, a disk stopper which is displaced in the direction of disk loading by abutting with a disk, a lever stopper which engages and rotates with a disk stopper, a cam stopper which engages and rotates with the lever stopper when a small diameter disk is inserted, and which, when a large diameter disk is inserted, is pushed by the lever open member, releases the engagement with the lever stopper and which becomes relatively displaceable and which rotates on being directly pushed by the lever open member and a slider rack which conducts switching when pushed by a cam stopper.
By such an arrangement, when loading a large diameter disk, the engagement of the lever stopper and the cam stopper is released by the lever open member which is rotated by the disk. The direct cam stopper is rotated by the disk and switching is performed. When loading a small diameter disk, it is possible to improve the accuracy of the switching operation and set respective switching timing for the two kinds of respectively sized disks by performing the switching by rotating the cam stopper with which the lever stopper is rotatably engaged by the displacement of the disk stopper resulting from the insertion of the disk.
The disk device of the present invention provides a stopper pin so that the cam stopper which is pushed by the lever open member rotates the lever stopper to near an initial position. Furthermore a spring is provided between the arm clamper and the lever stopper which is compressed onto the lever stopper in the disk loading and ejection processes and which rotates in the opposite direction to the disk loading and ejection.
By such a structure, it is possible to accurately return the disk stopper to an initial position and to reduce the load when a disk is loaded.